The document discusses feedback received from audiences on a student film project. It describes how the group identified their target audience as those aged 15-28 from socioeconomic classes C1 to E. They conducted surveys, questionnaires, and used social media to gather feedback. Classmates provided positive feedback on the shots establishing genre and use of costumes/props. The group developed a narrative about a youth joining a gang that was influenced by other social realist films. Overall, the audience feedback helped the group improve their film to better appeal to the target audience.

1. What have youlearnt from your
audience feedback?
By Solomon

2. How we got feedbackfrom theaudience?
• First of all, the group learnt if the group were going to create a
successful product, we had to identify our target audience. The socio
economic category the group chose for the film was C1, C2, D and E.
This category is for people who are of working class and can afford once
in a while to attend the cinemas. The specific age group we were looking
for was 15-28 as the narrative of the film would have a lot for the
audience to relate to.
• Conducting feedback was done through a range ways. E.g. We created
questionnaires and surveys, We created a summary of our narrative and
made our target audience agree or disagree with it. We also used social
networking sites like Facebook to get feedback from friends.

5. Class mates feedback
“The type of shots really anchored
the genre well and Mise en scene in
terms of the costumes and props
helped anchor the genre as well.”
- Enzo “ The black and white effect of the
first part of the sequence really gives
the audience binary opposition
theory of good vs. evil . Also the
sound tracks really work well with
the genre as they are underground
rap songs which most modern social
realist films use”.
- Myah

6. Theory influence 1
Blumler and Katz’s uses and
gratification theory suggests
that media users play an
active role in choosing and
using the media. The theorists
say that a media user seeks
out a media source that best
fulfils the needs of the user.
Blumler & Katz (1974) argued
that audience needs have
social and psychological
origins which generate certain
expectations about the mass
media, leading to different
patterns of media exposure
which result in the
gratification of need. This
does assume an active
audience making motivated
choices.
The opening shot of the trailer immediately sets the
ball rolling in terms of environment the scene is
being taken place in which makes the audience feel
drawn in right from the start.

7. Developingthe narrative
• Developing the narrative was not very hard for the group because everyone
in the group were huge supporters of social realist films so we were very
familiar with a social realist narrative.
• We based our narrative on reality issues that the youth face on a everyday
basis. We tried to show that the negative perspective on the youth is not
always their fault and that they sucked into the lifestyle they are in.
• Our research and experiences showed that youths chose to join gangs for
protection, respect and to make money. Such things take place in urban
areas like the one our group is from, Newham borough, London. Our
narrative showed our protagonist joined a gang due to peer pressure and
family problems.
• Through having watched films like Menace to society which was a mainstream
American social realist film, and also watching British social realist films like
Kidulthood, We knew our narrative was on the right track.

8. Theory influence 2
• This links to the Jeremy Tunstall (1983) which suggests the
audiences are immersed in the narrative and are primary
consumers as they pay closer attention to the media on
screen or in their hands. To generate a buzz about the film,
the group decided to use underground tunes from Joe Black
(underneath BBC 1xtra) and Mover in the trailer to help get
the word on the streets which in media terms is known as
convergence.
• From looking at other social realist films, they used the same
approach and this was good feedback for the group as in our
first draft, we used an American mainstream rap song which
wasn’t going to be a common convention for a social realist
film.
• The group decided to use the two tracks because they have
significant meaning in terms of street life and how individuals
get on with everyday life although they are involved in serious
crime.
Underground music is
regularly aired every
week on BBC 1xtra by DJ
Charlie Sloth.

9. • I have learnt that the audience tend to like things that they are used to in terms
of narrative and common conventions. As the group was doing a social realist
film, the audience wanted the conventions like a male protagonist who was from
a poor, working class family. This is because of social realist films that have
come out in recent times have had such a narrative and they were popular with
the public. E.g. Kidulthood, Shifty etc.

10. Conclusion…
• After getting feedback from our target audience, I have gained positive feedback and critism which
will help me in the future. I have learnt that they are keen on the Mise-en-scene element of the
setting which would have a huge impact on the narrative, and now I understand that the choice of
location was a crucial decision in the planning stage. In the ancillary tasks I think the group chose the
correct images for appealing to my target audience and it also set the group on the right path of
knowing the common conventions of social realist film.

11. Summary
• In conclusion through audience feedback, we have developed our final products to
appear more professional and to appeal to our target audience. They told us:
 They liked our protagonist
 They liked our Mise-en-scene
 They though our narrative was confusing in the early drafts so we added a few
more scenes to develop our protagonist’s back story. This ensured the audience
got to know the character better and understand his actions more.
 Our titles at the start didn’t anchor our genre enough and we didn’t use the titles
enough. So in the end we used more titles and the style of the font was changed
to a graffiti style to anchor our genre.
 The sound edit was quite rough so to improve this Audacity was used. The
Audacity programme was also used to help the dialogue and soundtracks to sync
properly.